The dishdasha bomber

I'm sure you've heard the story about the ass bomber by now. I wondered how it would be possible, and it turns out it's not true. The Salafi was dedicated to Al Qaeda, but not that dedicated. He was, however, dedicated enough to hide explosives in his underwear. It's easy to do when you're wearing a dishdasha, the traditional robe that Arab men wear.

"The would-be assassin of Saudi Arabia's Prince Mohammed bin Nayef hid his bomb in his underwear, apparently believing that cultural taboos would prevent a search in that part of his body, according to a Saudi government official close to the investigation."

The underwear bomber was correct in his assessment of Saudi cultural taboos, which underscores the root of the problem: why have the Saudis treated these murderers with kid gloves? You may have read my post Saudi ex-Gitmo detainees get Royal treatment, which is about the "rehabilitation" of Saudi ex-Gitmo detainees and Saudis who committed terrorism in Iraq. This Al Qaeda member hid plastic explosives under his dishdasha and believed that Prince Nayef's security would not properly search him. He was right.

"Prince Nayef is responsible for overseeing the kingdom's terrorist rehabilitation program, and some two dozen important members of al Qaeda previously have surrendered to him in person, according to the Saudi government official."

The Saudi Royals are trying to rehabilitate Saudi Al Qaeda members by being nice with them. This also says something about Saudi security and how incompetent they must be.